There are many misconceptions about highly intelligent people, among which is debated how to identify them. Albert Einstein himself once said: “It’s not that I’m that smart. But I stay with the questions for much longer. ” In fact, many people agree that the truest measure of intelligence is not what a person already knows. Rather, it can be found in your capacity for new thoughts and new ideas.
3 surprising signs of a person with great intelligence
Here are three surprising signs that you may be smarter than average people.
1. You have a good sense of humor
We don’t usually think of the class clown as the smartest in the room. However, the ability to make people laugh requires a great deal of abstract reasoning and critical thinking skills, as well as a great capacity for verbal intelligence. A 2008 article published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology examined humor as a measure of humor that the authors called “mental fitness.” They concluded that their research “supports the prediction that effective humor production acts as an honest indicator of intelligence in humans .”
A few years later, researchers at the University of New Mexico tested hundreds of subjects on abstract reasoning, verbal intelligence, and their ability to write a good joke. The results showed that both general and verbal intelligence were strongly correlated with the subject’s ability to produce humor.
They also found that the funniest subjects were more likely to lie down (intimately), suggesting that humans may have developed a sense of humor to indicate high intelligence in such a setting.
2. You are left-handed
Most early cultures discouraged children from writing with the left hand. Some even went so far as to physically punish them and force them to write with their right hands. Sadly, this practice could cause not only emotional trauma, but also learning delays. Fortunately, this mindset is now considered outdated and the left hand is widely accepted in the modern world. This is especially good news now that research has shown that a natural preference for the left side of the body could be a sign that you are intellectually gifted .
A study conducted by the University of Athens found that because left-handed people could more effectively engage the right side of the brain, they performed much better on tests involving mental flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory than their right-handed counterparts. . Left-handed people have also been shown to have a greater capacity for inventive thinking. In one experiment, the researchers found that the more the test subject favored their left hand, the better they were on tests of “divergent thinking” or the ability to form novel ideas quickly and easily.
Anyone who has ever had a nun pat them on the hand with a ruler can rest easy – she must have been intimidated by your great intelligence !
3. You have anxiety
Anxiety is the worst. However, research shows that it could be your strong intellect that has weighed you down with this often debilitating mindset. In fact, there has been quite a bit of research in this area, and it all seems to support the same thought: people with anxiety worry more because their brains are more active. In a wide range of studies, high IQ scores were correlated with high levels of anxiety, suggesting that an intelligent mind may be a curse after all.
Ignorance is actually heaven. While this knowledge is unlikely to cure your anxiety disorder, it may be comforting to know that you are not alone and that you are in especially smart company.
George S. Patton once said, “If everyone thinks alike, then someone is not thinking.” In fact, the same things that make your mind different can also make it more powerful and valuable to society. Don’t hide your mental differences, celebrate them. You likely have a high IQ to back it up.